Kingfisher East Bengal FC

Football club infobox
clubname = East Bengal
nickname = "The Red-and-Gold Brigade" "Torch" "Hilsa"
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fullname = Kingfisher East Bengal Football Club
founded = 1920
ground = East Bengal Ground or Salt Lake Stadium
capacity = 120,000 - SLS; 24,000 - EBG
chairman = Dr Pranab Dasgupta
mgrtitle = Head Coach
manager = flagicon|India Stanley Rozario
league = I-League
season = 2007-08
position = 6th
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pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=|leftarm2=ffffff|body2=ffffff|rightarm2=ffffff|shorts2=000000|socks2=ffffff

Kingfisher East Bengal Football Club is an Indian football club based in Kolkata. The club was originally known as the East Bengal Club. In 1998, the name of the club was changed from the East Bengal Club to the Kingfisher East Bengal Football Club as United Breweries obtained a 50% stake in the club and renamed it to promote their Kingfisher beer.

East Bengal also has a multi-collaborative tie-in with Leicester City FC, UK for an exchange program with junior footballers, in respect to coaching techniques, sports science, and other developmental programs.East Bengal club was regarded as "The Best Club of India" by F.A(The Football Association)of England in 1951.East Bengal was the first Indian club to win IFA Shield for three consecutive years(1949-'51).

East Bengal has a record of winning Kolkata League for six years in a row(1970-1975).It is the first club in India to win back to back National Football League titles(2003 & 2004).The club has a record of winning 23 trophies from Indian capital New Delhi.(Durand Cup:16 times and DCM Trophy:7 times).

In 1970,East Bengal created a history by defeating Pas Club(Iran) 1-0 in IFA Shield final. It was the first victory of an Indian club over foreign team since the independence. East Bengal has a glorious past record against the foreign clubs. It is the only club in India to participate in Asian Club Championship/AFC Cup 10 times.

In 2003 July,East Bengal created sensation not only in India but in the whole continent also when they won LG Asean Cup from Jakarta beating BEC Tero Sasana in the finals.

tadium

As its homeground, the club boasts of the enigmatic Yuba Bharati Krirangan, or the Salt Lake Stadium, Asia's biggest composite stadium. It is the biggest of its kind in Asia. The Salt Lake Stadium has seating arrangement for 120,000 people at a time. Its training ground is a smaller East Bengal tent near the maidan.

Rivals

Out of matches East Bengal have played with their arch rival Mohun Bagan, East Bengal have won 108 times and Mohun Bagan have won 80. The very first clash resulted in an 1-0 win for East Bengal with Nepal Chakraborty scoring the all-important goal. [ [http://www.mohunbaganclub.com/history.htm 1st encounter with Mohun Bagan] ] The biggest ever margin in this duel is another East Bengal win by a margin of 5-0 in the IFA shield in 1975. Baichung Bhutia has the unique distinction of scoring the only hatrick in the Derby Clashes when he registered the same in East Bengal's 4-1 triumph in 1997 Federation Cup Semi Final.East Bengal has won 108 derby matches against their arch-rival.And Mohun Bagan has tasted victory against the Red & Gold brigade for 80 times. [ [http://www.eastbengalfootballclub.com/club/ebmb.asp East Bengal Football Club - East Bengal Vs. Mohun Bagan ] ]

Players

"As of 4 August 2008" [ [http://www.eastbengalfootballclub.com/club/currentSquad.asp Current squad] ] Fs start

*Coach: Stanley Rozario
*Goalkeeper Coach: Debashis Mukherjee
*Physical Trainer: Suresh Babu
*Team Doctor: Dr. S R Dasgupta
*Physiotherapist: Rajesh Basak
*Team Manager: Swapan Ball

Noted former players

*1920s: Mona Dutta, Nepal Chakraborty, Surja Chakraborty, Haran Saha, Dulal Guha Thakurta
*1930s: Mohammed Salim, Murgesh, Somana, Lakshminarayan, Majid
*1940s: Apparao, Pagsley, Byomkesh Bose, P. Venkatesh, Sunil Ghosh, S.Nayyar, Paritosh Chakraborty, PBA Saleh
*1950s: Masood Fakri, T. Balaram, Taj Mohammed, K.P.Dhanraj, Ahmed Khan, Minilal Ghatak, S.Roy-Paltu, Kittu, Gokul, Sanat Sett, Moosa, Hassan, Ram Bahadur
*1960s: Aroon Ghosh, Sukumar Samajpati, Peter Thangaraj, Prasanta Sinha, Chandan Bannerjee, Ashim Moulik, Syed Naeemuddin, Parimal Dey, Md. Habib, Santo Mitra, Shyam Thapa, Sudhir Karmakar, Subhash Bhowmick
*1970s: Samaresh Chowdhury, Shyamal Ghosh, Ashokelal Banerjee, Gautam Sarkar, Surajit Sengupta, Bhaskar Ganguly, Monoranjan Bhattacharya, Prasanta Banerjee, Harjinder Singh
*1980s: Majid Bashkar, Jamshed Nassiri, Sudip Chatterjee, Alok Mukherjee, Tarun Dey, Krishanu Dey, Bikash Panji, Emeka Ezeugo, Balai Mukherjee, Cheema Okeri, Swarup Das
*1990s: John Devine, Bhaichung Bhutia, Tushar Rakshit, Kuljit Singh, Samuel Omollo, Carlton Chapman
*2000s: Dipak Mondal, Suley Musah, Surkumar Singh, Alvito D'Cunha, Muttah Suresh, Subrata Pal, Mike Okoro, Douglas Da Silva [ [http://www.eastbengalfootballclub.com/club/famousPlayers.asp Famous Players who played for East Bengal] ]

Performance record

Performance in AFC Competitions

* Asian Club Championship: 2 appearances::1986: Group Stage::1999: First Round
*AFC Cup: 3 appearances::2004: Quarter-Finals::2005: Group Stage::2008: Group Stage, 3rd In Group

* Asian Cup Winners Cup: 5 appearances::1991/92: Second Round::1993/94: Second Round::1994/95: First Round::1995/96: Second Round::1997/98: Second Round

ponsors

Main Sponsor: Kingfisher (Parent Company United Breweries Group is 50% stake holder in the Club).

Co-sponsor: Playwin

Co-sponsor: Peerless General Finance & Investment Co. Ltd

Outfit Sponsor: Reebok

Medical Support: MEDICARE SERVICES

References

External links

* [http://eastbengalfootballclub.com Official East Bengal Club Website]